Story of a Caretaker
by SpoonyKay
Summary: Well, it's kinda sad, but this is the story of Argus Filch and Mrs. Norris. Hope ya like!


Dislaimer: None of this be mine. All the geniusof J.K. Rowlin  
  
Tell me whatcha think of this story. Whipped it up one night when I had an idea. I think it's okay. Not my best, but you tell me! :)  
  
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"Mrs. Norris!!" Harry Potter could hear the voice echoing through the hallway as he and his best two friends huddled under the invisibility cloak. They'd just come back from an extremely late visit with Hagrid and they knew what was coming if they were caught. The heavy shuffling of Mr. Argus Filch's feet was coming towards them down the hallway. And there, before them, sat that stupid cat that Filch was yelling for.   
  
"Shoo!" Harry said, making a swatting motion at the hairball of a feline. All three of them heard Filch getting even closer and Harry made another attempt to swat the cat away. The cat jumped back from Harry's hand, then sat back down, still staring straight at him. Then, much to the three students dismay, the cat meowed loudly.  
  
"Mrs. Norris? Mrs. Norris? Is that you? You're sitting near the entrance to the Gryffindor rooms, aren't you?"  
  
Harry looked at the cat and then listened, Argus was getting closer. With a desperate ray of hope, Hermione Granger, one of Harry's friends, turned to the Fat Lady picture that guarded their common room. She leaned in closely to the lady's ear, then whispered "Acummi Losa!" The fat lady, without even bothing to get up, swung the portrait open, and Hermione dragged the two boys behind her, into the stairwell behind the lady's picture. As the painting swung down, Harry leaned his ear against it.   
  
"Well, Mrs. Norris. Seems that those Gryffindors are up to no good again, eh? Probably the Weasley Twins, huh.. They're always trifling around.."  
  
Harry listened as Filch went shuffling off again, mumbling about the Ron and George Weasley. With a sigh of relief he slumped down against the wall.   
  
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Filch sighed to himself, sliding his feet down the corridor. His leg was acting up again. Probably just a property of his old age. He shuffled slowly, his cane thumping down every time he dragged his right leg along. He muttered to himself, trying to take his mind off the pain, then looked at the clock on the wall. Almost seven. The boys and girls would be coming out soon and become the teacher's responsibility. He almost smiled to himself, but found that that was hard to do anymore.   
  
He looked at a picture of a man on a horse, then yanked on the horse's tail, causing it to neigh. The portrait swung open and Filch slipped into the passage, taking a right and then heading up the last flight of stairs. When he finally reached the top, he pushed open a wall. The door opened and he stepped out into his office. The wall slid closed behind him and he watched the third brick up slid back out, hiding the entrance. The many portraits around his office were beginning to wake up as he headed into the door next to his office, his bedroom.  
  
Filch limped across the small room to the bed and sat down, dropping his cane next to it, then looked around the room. As if out of nowhere, the cat from before walked out of the shadows. Filch smiled at it and patted the bed next to him. The cat swung it's tail back and forth a few times, then hopped up nxt to the old man, settling it's head on his thigh.  
  
"Aw, Mrs. Norris. You did a job today, even if I didn't get to those Weasley brats." He ran his hand over her head a few times, causing her to purr. With a smirk, he continued. "We'll get em next time. They won't be nobody trespassing our halls.." Mrs. Norris just purred to him. Filch smirked a little more. "But then again, it's not as if you can understand me so much anymore. No I'll bet you've lost most've what could hear me." Filch petted the cat once more, then sighed. "Well, goodnight Mrs. Norris. I need my sleep to handle this hellions.."  
  
Filch stretched out slowly on the bed and pulled the blanket around him, causing the cat to jump up on the bed post. Within a few minutes, the pain in Filch's knee had settled and he found himself falling asleep.  
  
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"Charisse!!!" The girl with blonde hair and black glasses looked up from her book and smiled to see the boy with messy blondish-brown hair come flying towards her. She patted the chair next to her in the Ravenclaw common room and smiled as he sat down.   
  
"Well, Charisse, I got a high score on my potions test.."  
  
Charisse smiled. "I'm glad, Gus. It's good to know all that studying we did paid off." Gus smiled back at her. "But you know, Gus.. you shouldn't call me Charisse.. No. It's not proper at all to call someone older than you by their first name.."  
  
Gus laughed a bit. "You're older by what.. a year? You just think you're special because you graduated.."  
  
Charisse smiled. "Still.."  
  
With a boyish grin, Gus got up and bowed to her. "Well, Charisse, when I feel that you're been properly more mature, I'll call you by your last name.."  
  
Charisse smirked at him and tossed a pillow at his back as he ran off. She shook her head goodnaturedly and went back to her book.  
  
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It was the last Quidditch match of the year and Ravenclaw was up by 1 goal. Slytherin's beaters had not been doing their job as well and the one beater for Ravenclaw was something. Cheers came from the stands as Gus sat on his broom and hit the bludgeoner away from the Seeker left and right. One particularly zealous bludgeoner came from behind him. Listening for the slight whistle, Gus turned at just the right second. He then spun in a complete circle and hit the bludgeoner towards the Slytherin keeper. He watched with a wince as the bludgeoner hit the prefect, Roger Collis, straight in her side. The hit caused his broom to lose control and he dug into the dirt.   
  
Gus watched in horror, then sighed thankfully as Roger got up. For a second though, Gus could see the contempt in the boy's expression when he looked in his direction. Blinking a few times, Gus listened as their seeker was being paraded around. He'd gotten the snitch and Gus hadn't even realized it. He shook himself and clapped, but his eyes were drawn to Roger, who stared with hatred straight towards him...  
  
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"Charisse? Charisse?!?!" Gus looked around him. He was dressed in full, navy, wizard robes, his blondish-brown hair that was slightly messy running over his eyebrow. He looked tired. And he was trying not to be too loud: He didn't want to wake anyone in the corridor. He rubbed his temple, then ran to the corner. "Charisse? Come on Rissy, this is not funny."  
  
A noise behind caused the boy to turn around. He looked behind him. "Charisse? Is that you?" Another noise. It came from around the corner this time. The boy shivered a bit and pulled his wand from his robes. He took a few slow steps towards the noise, hoping to scare whatever had made it, but when he finally reached the spot, he saw nothing. He scratched his head a moment, then looked behind him.   
  
Shock was written on his face as he looked ahead of him. "What..what's going on here?!" the boy asked, a slight desperation in his voice. Before him sat a girl with blonde hair, a dark purple robe, and glasses, but she was not alone. A boy had her arms pinned before. A boy not too increasingly older. He looked at the boy and smirked. "Well, well Gus.. what are you doing roaming the halls at this hour?"  
  
The boy, "Gus", looked the man straight in the face, though his voice quivered a little. "Let her go, Rog.." But the other boy interupted. "Ah ah..what have I told you to call me?"  
  
Gus growled a bit, then looked at him. "PREFECT Roger... Let her go!" But Gus heard Roger let out a small chuckle.  
  
"Oh no, no, no! You see, Gus.. This girl was roaming the halls when she shouldn't have been. You know you're not supposed to be in the halls past ten! And by my clock it's nearly one.. Oh dear, oh dear.. what could be done about this? Two Ravenclaws wondering the halls at night.."  
  
Gus growled again. "Come on, Prefect.. just let us go! This isn't about houses anymore. I don't care that you're Slytherin. We didn't do anything to you.. Roger.." Gus heard the girl let out a cry of pain. "Charisse! You're hurting her.. Oh god.. Charisse.. are you all right?"  
  
Roger laughed. "I told you to call me Prefect.."  
  
Gus sighed. "Then what do you want..what do I have to do to make you let her go?" Roger thought about it for a second. "I don't know that there's anything you CAN do.."  
  
Gus watched in agony as Charisse tried to free herself, but to no avail. "Come on, Rog.. Prefect.. anything!"  
  
"Anythi.."  
  
The word hung in the air unfinished as the two boys heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Gus and Roger eyed each other. Then, in an attempt to get the other in trouble, they pointed wands at each other and whispered the words..."  
  
"Gragdalus Totaris!"  
  
"Felicis Vernoperis!"  
  
The only light in the hallway erupted from Roger's wand as the bolt went flying towards Gus. With a quick movement, Gus dropped to the ground, causing the light to miss. But as the light flew forward, it hit a suit of armor. The light bounced off and went flying towards Roger, but he managed to raise Charisse in front of him before it could hit him. With a cry, Charisse fell to the ground, glowing. Roger, seeing his opurtunity, ran off.   
  
"CHARISSE!" Gus crawled forward quickly and grabbed the girl who lay glowing on the floor. He cradled her in his arms and ran a hand down his face. "Oh God.. Rissy?! Are you all right?"  
  
The girl's eyes fluttered open briefly and she smiled at Gus. "I.. I don't know.. Thank.. thank you for..for trying to save me.."  
  
Gus' eyes almost immediately filled with tears, he looked at Charisse and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. I.. I tried.. but this magic thing.. I just.. I can't do it!"  
  
Charisse nodded a bit, then raised her hand up weakly, running a finger across his cheek. "That doesn't matter... Magic's not the most important thing in life.."  
  
Gus looked at her again, his expression saddening. He grabbed her hand in his and stared into her eyes. "I'm..I'm sorry. I tried.. I really did.."  
  
"I know. I know you did, Gus.."  
  
The glowing began to grow fainter as Charisse began to shrink. "Charisse? Charisse, what's happening? What'd he do to you?!"  
  
The glow became incredibly bright then and blinded Gus, knocking him back. When his eyes opened, he looked out to see a cat sitting in front of him and Charisse's glasses on the ground. "Wha.. Where'd she go? Ch.."  
  
Gus began to say something, then he stopped in mid sentence. The cat walked over to him and purred, then pushed the glasses towards him. The realization hit him hard. Charisse WAS the cat. He closed his eyes, then looked at her. With a tear streaking down his face, he gathered her in his arms. The cat rubbed it's head against his palm, then pushed it's self against his chest. "I know.. " He sniffed again, willing the tears to leave him. Then, he looked at the cat. "Well, I guess now's a good time to reintroduce ourselves. My name is Argus Filch. And you'd be Charisse Norris.. Nice to meet you... Mrs. Norris...  
  
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With a start, Filch sat up. The dream that had plagued him for so many years was back again. He sighed to himself, but then stopped when he heard Snape's nasally voice. "I need you in here, Filch. The Weasley brats have spilled the Toad boils again."  
Filch rose up and sighed, then scratched the cat next to him's ear. "Well, here we go again, eh Charisse.. Oh..sorry. Mrs. Norris.. 


End file.
